Category: Philippine Star

The GenSan Warriors kept their poise after yielding control and bested the Caloocan Batang Kankaloo, 85-82, on Tuesday in the SportsPlus MPBL (Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League) 2026 Season at the Caloocan Sports Complex.

Staring at a 75-81 deficit after leading 73-68 early in the fourth quarter, the Warriors tightened their defense and bundled six points to knot the count at 81, with 45.1 seconds left.

GenSan’s Joshua Fontanilla, however, converted two charities, and Larry Rodriguez scored on a fast-break play for the final count, as Caloocan’s Jeff Manday missed a hurried 3-pointer with 6.7 seconds to go.

The Warriors raised their record to 15-4 in the round-robin elimination phase of the two-division, 26-team tournament and occupied the fourth spot in the South Division, behind Batangas City (15-3), Quezon Province (13-3) and Binan (17-4).

Fontanilla, former star of St. Clare College of Caloocan, notched 20 points, five assists and three rebounds to earn Best Player honors over Adi Santos, who had 11 points, 10 rebounds and four assists.

“We just did our best as we have only one goal (winning),” said Fontanilla.

Rodriguez wound up with 11 points, three rebounds and two assists, followed by Hesed Gabo with eight points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals; and Kris Porter with nine points.

Caloocan, which dropped to 17-3 and third place in the North Division, drew 19 points, including a perfect 12-of-12 free throws, nine assists, two rebounds and two steals from Kean Baclaan; 15 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals from Manday; 14 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and three steals from Kymani Ladi; and 11 points from Jeramer Cabanag.

Zamboanga nips Valenzuela

The Zamboanga SiKat leaned on Brandon Wilson to nip Valenzuela City, 76-73, and rev up its playoff drive with an 8-12 slate.

Wilson tallied 25 points, nine rebounds and two assists, followed by Paeng Are with 12 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals; and Jayson Puray, with 10 points and three rebounds.

Exploiting its rebounding edge, 59-45, Zamboanga pulled away at 44-27 and foiled Valenzuela’s repeated rallies.

The Valenzuela Darkhorse tumbled to 9-13 despite Shaq Alanes’ 32 points, five rebounds and two assists; Jay Collado’s 10 points and 11 rebounds; and Nico Mamaradlo’s 14 points plus three rebounds.

Bataan trounces Sarangani

The Bataan Risers trounced the Sarangani 10ACT Marlins, 90-73, in the opener to remain in playoff contention.

With homegrown Yves Sazon and Lerwin Flores providing firepower, Bataan led as far as 79-53 early in the fourth quarter before cruising to its ninth win against 12 losses.

Sazon posted 23 points, two rebounds and two assists to capture the Best Player honors over Flores, who posted 14 points, six rebounds and five assists.

Other Risers who delivered were Jamil Gabawan with eight points, 10 rebounds and four assists; and Joey Barcuma with nine points plus two rebounds.

Leland Estacio drilled in three triples; Carl Bryan Lacap added five points; and Paul Sanga added one triple to push Sarangani closer, 70-86.

Sarangani, which skidded to 3-22, got 18 points and four rebounds from Lacap, 14 points, five rebounds and three assists from Estacio; and 12 points plus three rebounds from Ralph Tansingco.

The tournament returns to the Batangas City Coliseum on Wednesday, featuring games between Bulacan and Abra at 3 p.m.; Ilagan Isabela and Cebu at 5 p.m.; and Batangas City and Imus at 7 p.m

EY Global Delivery Services (GDS) recently launched its advanced Cybersecurity Center in Cebu, expanding the organization’s global, AI-driven cyber operations network and reinforcing the Philippines’ role as a hub for cybersecurity, AI talent and intelligent cyber defense. The center is designed to support continuous threat detection and response at global scale through advanced analytics, automation and AI-led operations.

‘Cebu combines a deep cyber talent pipeline, a high-velocity delivery culture and a rapidly maturing technology ecosystem, forming the critical conditions for a scaled cyber innovation hub,’ said Maez De Guzman, EY GDS Philippines Cybersecurity Leader and EY Cybersecurity Managed Services Emerging Markets Leader.

‘This Cybersecurity Center strengthens the Philippines’ role as a strategic hub in EY’s global, AI-native cyber operations fabric while systematically developing Filipino talent to operate and engineer the next generation of cyber resilience.’

As the initiative strengthens EY GDS’ platform-driven cybersecurity services, it creates pathways for Filipino professionals to work on global cyber challenges. It also marks a continued investment in Cebu as an emerging center for cyber innovation, AI-led security operations and future-ready digital talent.

Paris-born fashion retailer Kids Around made its Philippine debut, gathering premium and luxury childrenswear from partner brands as well as its own fashion line into one store.

The maiden branch of the concept store opened in Makati’s Greenbelt 5 with items from Boss, Chloe, Givenchy, Kenzo, and Kids Around itself.

A majority of the selection offers clothings from children between four and 16 years old. Select brands have items for infants and toddlers up to three years old.

“More than bringing these brands under one roof, we wanted to create an experience that celebrates children’s individuality and gives kids the freedom to discover their own sense of style,” said Sabrina Miranda, group general manager of Adrenaline Group, in a statement.

Adrenaline Group is the operator of Kids Around in the Philippines. Miranda later explained to Philstar.com in an exclusive interview after the store’s opening that a common theme among the retailers over 85 boutiques in 29 countries is that each branch features luxury brands that are the most popular in a given country.

She added that Kids Around branch can only carry partner brands that its host mall also carries – with the exception of standalone stores like in Paris.

Miranda teased that more brands are coming in when the retailer opens its next two Philippines stores in Rustan’s branches at Makati and Shangri-La Plaza.

The Philippines’ first Kids Around store currently features the Children’s Spring/Summer 2026 collections of Boss, Chloe, Givenchy, Kenzo, and Kids Around. The selection will be added with pieces from the Autumn/Winter 2027 collections.

Asian food conglomerate Jollibee Foods Corp. (JFC) is scaling down some of its operating assumptions, as well as its planned store network expansion and capital expenditures for the year, as the group’s first-half profitability declined despite a strong second-quarter showing.

The Jollibee Group has revised its gross new store opening target for 2026 to a range of 1,000 to 1,100 stores from 1,200 to 1,300 stores originally, while the capex range has been adjusted to P13 billion to P15 billion, from the previous range of P13 billion to P16 billion.

Full-year same-store sales growth guidance has likewise been lowered to a range of three to four percent from four to six percent.

Operating income growth guidance, meanwhile, is now eyed to range from 10 to 15 percent, down from the previous 15 to 18 percent, reflecting the updated same-store sales assumptions, the revised expansion assumptions, continued transition-related costs for China and Smashburger, as well as the still-dynamic cost environment.

The Jollibee Group, however, is maintaining its guidance for system-wide sales growth of eight to 12 percent and store network growth of five to 10 percent, supported by continued demand across key markets and disciplined execution across its global brand portfolio.

Despite the lower gross opening target, the group said it continues to expect overall store network growth to remain in line with its previous guidance, reflecting ongoing portfolio optimization and the timing of store openings and closures. The Jollibee Group saw its net income attributable to equity holders of the parent company drop by 13.3 percent to P4.87 billion in the first half, while net income fell by 16.7 percent to P4.93 billion.

JFC expanded its global store network by 6.4 percent year-on-year to 10,767 stores.

This reflected 461 gross new store openings and the addition of 172 stores from the acquisition of Shabu All Day, which was partly offset by 207 store closures during the first half.

JFC’s second quarter results, however, showed a recovery from first quarter cost pressures, with the group delivering record quarterly net income attributable to equity holders of the parent company, stronger revenue growth and improved margins.

Net income attributable to equity holders of the parent company during the second quarter reached P3.4 billion, up by 5.7 percent from P3.2 billion in the same period last year.

‘Our second quarter results demonstrate the continued strength of the Jollibee Group’s global brand portfolio and the resilience of consumer demand across our key markets,’ JFC chief executive officer Ernesto Tanmantiong said.

‘We delivered healthy system-wide sales growth across all regions, supported by strong contributions from both our Philippine and international businesses, continued same-store sales growth and ongoing expansion of our global store network,’ he said.

The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) is moving to scrap the value-added tax (VAT) on system loss charges, with consumers estimated to save around P6 billion annually.

Under a draft resolution, the ERC is proposing to exclude system loss charges from the taxable gross receipts of generation companies (gencos) and the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP).

The proposal will require distribution utilities to separately identify the system loss charge on consumers’ bills as a government-mandated pass-through cost not subject to VAT.

Once finalized and confirmed by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), the move will effectively remove the 12 percent VAT on system loss charges, delivering immediate relief to households and businesses nationwide.

‘The exclusion of the allowable system loss charge from the VAT base of gencos and NGCP will directly reduce the cost of electricity charged to consumers,’ the ERC said, citing its mandate to ensure access to affordable power.

System loss refers to electricity that has been generated and paid for but is lost during transmission and distribution to end-users. The cost is currently recovered through a separate line item on consumers’ power bills.

With system loss charges estimated at around P50 billion annually, ERC chairman and CEO Francis Saturnino Juan said removing the corresponding VAT could save consumers roughly P6 billion.

Juan, however, noted that the proposal still needs the BIR’s acceptance of the ERC’s characterization of system loss charges as a government-mandated pass-through cost.

Implementation will also depend on the BIR issuing its own rules to operationalize the proposed VAT removal.

‘Imposing VAT on top of a charge for electricity that was never delivered to consumers is fundamentally at odds with the nature of VAT as a tax on the value of goods and services actually rendered,’ Juan said.

For an average Metro Manila household consuming 200 kilowatt-hours, system loss charges amounted to P0.8751 per kWh in July.

‘Removing the VAT corresponding to that system loss charge alone would translate to approximately P21 in potential savings for that household,’ Garin told a media briefing yesterday.

‘It may be one component of the electricity bill, but it reflects a larger principle: consumers should not be made to shoulder costs that can and should be addressed through greater efficiency and accountability,’ she added.

This follows President Marcos’ directive during his State of the Nation Address last month to eliminate electricity charges that do not reflect actual services rendered to consumers.

The National Electrification Administration (NEA), meanwhile, said 89 of the country’s 121 electric cooperatives could face financial losses if they are required to absorb the cost of removing system loss charges from power bills.

‘If they are made to answer for technical systems losses, they will eventually not be able to pay their suppliers,’ NEA administrator Antonio Mariano Almeda said. ‘The continuing partial payments will eventually lead to indebtedness without source of repayment.’

Senate impeachment presiding officer Sen. Francis Escudero said he is set to issue a ruling regulating public statements made by counsels in the ongoing impeachment trial, citing repeated violations of the court’s rules on decorum.

The issue came to a head during a recent court session when Sheila Sison, the chief lawyer of the defense panel, raised concerns over a social media post by lawyer Amando Virgil Ligutan, a private prosecutor.

“Quite frankly… I asked the clerk of court to monitor the public statements of the counsels of the parties this past week. And one side has been crossing the line many, many times,” Escudero said.

Sison decried Ligutan’s social media post from 11:29 a.m., which she claimed took passive-aggressive jabs at laywer Kristine Ferrer, who had earlier cross-examined Commission on Audit witness Xylene del Campo.

During the cross-examination, Ferrer and private prosecutor Lorna Kapunan clashed over whether a witness could be forced to answer with a simple “yes” or “no.”

When Kapunan argued that misleading questions are not allowed on cross-examination, Ferrer responded, “They are allowed.’

Ferrer was cross-examining Del Campo about a joint circular governing confidential and intelligence funds.

She then asked whether the circular limited the use of confidential funds to apprehending people.

Following the incident, Ligutan’s Facebook post read as follows:

A principle ALL lawyers and law students know by heart:

Misleading questions are NOT allowed even on cross-examination.

However, Ligutan did not mention any names in his post.

Sison clarified in court that Ferrer was referring to leading questions being permissible on cross-examination, not misleading ones.

In an ambush interview with reporters, Ligutan said his post was without malice.

‘Hindi po allowed ang misleading questions. Hindi ko ‘yan (post) buburahin dahil ‘yan po ay nakasaad sa ating Rules of Court,’ Ligutan said.

(Misleading questions are not allowed. I will not delete that [post] because that is stated in our Rules of Court.)

Section 10 of Rule 132 of the Rules of Evidence does not allow misleading questions to witnesses.

Aside from the same charge already tackled during her ongoing impeachment trial, Vice President Sara Duterte is facing yet another case of grave threats over her remarks to have President Marcos and members of his family killed.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) confirmed the filing of a grave threats case against Duterte yesterday before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court.

The case is for violation of Article 282 of the Revised Penal Code, in relation to Section 6 of Republic Act 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act, according to DOJ spokesman Polo Martinez.

‘Our prosecutors saw that there was prima facie evidence with reasonable certainty of conviction to indict the Vice President for the crime of grave threats by means of the cyberspace,’ he told reporters.

He noted it was ‘the same matter referred to by the (National Bureau of Investigation) to the DOJ, which is currently one of the subjects of the ongoing impeachment proceedings against the Vice President.’

The NBI filed the complaint for grave threats and inciting to sedition against Duterte in February 2025, which cited her remarks during an online press briefing in November 2024 that she has hired someone to take out President Marcos, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and his cousin former speaker Martin Romualdez, should she be killed.

In May 2025, Duterte called on the DOJ to dismiss the ‘false and baseless’ complaints against her, saying ‘being accused of a criminal offense, I am constitutionally presumed innocent even in these proceedings, and need not dignify the complaint with a reply, when no evidence has been shown to support it.’

Martinez noted the inciting to sedition complaint has been dismissed, apparently for lack of evidence.

He also maintained the upcoming handling of the grave threats case against Duterte by the Quezon City court ‘should not be affected by the ongoing impeachment proceeding and vice versa,’ since both courts are ‘procedurally distinct and separate.’

Martinez disclosed that Duterte faces one count of grave threats with bail fixed at P120,000.

It was contrary to the statement from Duterte’s lawyer Paul Lawrence Lim that she was slapped with ‘three counts of grave threats.’

‘Under prevailing circumstances, we have anticipated and prepared for such an outcome. Under our laws, the Vice President continues to be presumed innocent and is confident that the charges against her will ultimately be dismissed,’ Lim said in a statement.

Lim added that as a sitting impeachable officer, the Vice President may not be prosecuted for an alleged offense that is also the subject of an impeachment case.

‘Given these serious legal issues, the Vice President will exercise all available legal remedies in due course,’ he said

After a week of incessant rains I was wondering if any good would come out of the storms, habagat and tropical depressions that seemed to park themselves in the Philippine area of responsibility.

Most of the news in traditional and online platforms focused on flooding, flooded roads, flooded municipalities and provinces but hardly anything on the relief efforts, acts of courage, charity or kindness. The only eye-catching story was about two men in Kawit, Cavite rescuing children.

The only ‘good’ I could think of that may come out of the rains, particularly the widespread flooding all over northern and southern Luzon, was it would serve as a cold and brutal reminder, if not a wake-up call, that NO ONE, no CongTractor or elected official has been charged or landed in jail for the ghost flood control projects.

While suspects and ‘accused’ continue to boldly go where others would be ashamed to be seen, it just occurred to me that all the magnifying glasses and guns are focused mostly on former House speaker Martin Romualdez. I’m fine with that but…

Why is no one investigating, interrogating or gathering information about the involvement and actions of members of ‘the small committee,’ party-list groups or other congressional committee members who had a hand in the controversial budget insertions and manipulations?

Who is protecting whom and over what? Or maybe I should ask: is anybody at the DOJ actually investigating the paper trail or lack of it in Congress? Because if no agency of the PBBM administration is investigating the matter, what are we hoping for, in terms of justice being served?

The monsoon rains also reminded me to write about the fact that the ghost flood control projects is not just multiple conspiracies to commit crime and thereby plunder but may constitute or qualify as multiple homicide, manslaughter or murder, if only real lawyers put their minds to it.

Several if not many individuals, young and old, died due to the floods and the absence of flood control projects that were already paid for. I hope that the Department of Defense or the DOH or DSWD has some sort of files listing who and where people died due to flooding or drowning where the projects never came to be.

If such cases or charges prospered, there will be no issues about bail, life sentences or politically designed pardons or commutation of sentences. Such deaths is not simply due to reckless imprudence, the causes were premeditated and scaled.

On the dark side of things, I’m honestly concerned if the suspects and the accused will ever experience the humiliation of standing in court while the charges against them are read before family and the media.

Given how key witnesses have ‘died,’ recanted, bought or disappeared, how sure is the Marcos administration that justice will be served? The fact that suspected and accused legislators have stayed out of the crosshairs of any serious and direct interrogation makes it all suspicious.

Meanwhile Sen. Rodante Marcoleta, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada and Bong Revilla have been turned into scapegoats and members of the lower house have kicked out or ostracized ex-congressmen Barzaga and Leviste. That is not justice; it is deflection and reverse persecution.

While I do not want to give life to the possibility that justice won’t be served, I cannot also deny that Romualdez et. al. have a history of dealing with similar charges in the past, as well as many hours and days spent sitting and standing before investigators or judges and eventually being declared ‘not guilty.’

For all the declarations of PBBM and Ombudsman Remulla, we all know that justice is a long game that we often lose in the Philippines because our political system and merry-go-round replacement of government officials often cause procedural amnesia.

In terms of injury, it is said that ‘time heals all things’ or ‘time often decides things if you wait long enough.’ When I looked for something closer to criminal cases, one phrase hit hard: ‘time favors the accused.’

Going back to the search for some good in spite of during this period of really pouring rains and floods, a member of our men’s discipleship group shared that everywhere they drove, it was either get stuck in traffic or forge through floods.

Even the motels and low-cost hotels were fully occupied, and motorists were lucky if they actually made it to an SM mall parking garage. What was interesting was his account of how the LRT mass transit system and presumably the MRT provided the only flood-proof transport for stranded commuters.

We take such things for granted but any administration and Congress should do everything they can to activate and legislate non-negotiable, untouchable, politics-proof and future-proof mass transit projects.

In the same manner, government and Congress should do likewise for the construction of new dams and water retaining facilities. We may have a lot of water now, but most countries are in agreement that water, not diesel, will be a serious concern.

During the weeklong deluge, someone also replayed the documentary on why BGC does not experience flooding. That of course is attributed to the gigantic cistern or rainwater impounding tank underneath BGC.

Indeed, rains and floods work wonders on what we take for granted!

It is impossible not to follow the phenomenal Alex Eala as she shakes up the tennis world. Her improvement as a tennis player over the past couple of years has been amazing. She now plays with confidence, and grace. My colleague Abac Cordero is right; people should stop calling Alex Eala a rising star. She is a star.

She may not have a formidable serve – yet – but her returns and the way she reads her opponents’ play show that she is not only a good athlete, she is a smart one. She may not be as hefty as some players; she’s certainly not as experienced as others, but she’s a smart player and, as the last couple of weeks have shown, smart trumps heft and power.

Oh, and it’s such a bonus that she is such a wonderful person. She’s articulate, humble about her successes and sincere in her praise for her fellow players. She’s honest about her feelings, and she may have outgrown her ruffled sock and light-up shoes and chubby cheeks (maybe not yet, as she said in one interview), but she is hands down a darling. No wonder the world is in love with Alex Eala.

A shoutout too to the Pinoys all across the world who show such strong, unwavering support for her. As Jessica Pegula noted, support for Eala is ‘insane,’ and it isn’t easy playing in that atmosphere if you’re not the one they’re cheering – loudly, boisterously – for. But Pegula has even benefitted from that; she has gained her share of Pinoy fans, with followers on her FB and podcast increasing significantly after playing Eala in the Washington finals.

Tournament organizers are the biggest winners, and they now know enough to always put her on the main court. Capacity 10,000? No problem – tickets were sold out as soon as they became available.

Never mind that her winning run ended yesterday in Toronto; Alex Eala has made her mark. To watch her on Center Court at Wimbledon, with Philippine flags waving among the crowd, was truly a sight to behold, talagang nakakataba ng puso. And the good thing is, there’ll be many more Center Courts and finals matches for the amazing Alex Eala. It’s been a very busy year for the Philippines as chair of ASEAN. Ministerial meetings, business and industrial sector meetings have been, and are, being held in various parts of the country. The 48th Leaders’ Summit was held – quite successfully – in Cebu last May, and the 49th Leaders’ Summit and related meetings will take place in Manila in November, when the chairship will be handed over to Singapore.

But it’s not all business and policy for ASEAN. Last Sunday, despite torrential rains, the arts of the 11 member-states took center stage – literally – at the historic Metropolitan Theater in Manila, the culmination of a week-long interaction among young ASEAN artists. Earlier in the week, the artists spent three days at the National Arts Center in Mount Makiling, participating in cultural exchange sessions, artistic workshops, collaborative rehearsals, cultural immersion activities and interactions with the students of the Philippine High School for the Arts.

The Best of ASEAN Performing Arts is a flagship cultural initiative that brings together ’emerging and young artists from across Southeast Asia annually to celebrate the region’s shared heritage while highlighting the unique culture of each of the ASEAN member-states.’ Aside from the different dance styles, many of the costumes showed off the country’s exquisite textiles. The first part of the program had two dancers from each country presenting their unique dance traditions; the dances from Malaysia (‘Tingkal 2 Diraja’) and Vietnam (‘Spirit of Vietnam’) are included in the UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The spirited ‘Hare Fos Dance’ or Life in the Fields from newest member Timor Leste looked so familiar, with a salakot-like hat and a bilao used for winnowing. The Philippines presented a poignant pas de deux, ‘Para Kay Gabriela,’ about the courtship of Diego Silang and Gabriela, the first Filipina general of the revolutionary army.

For the second part of the evening, the artists joined the Alice Reyes Dance Philippines in the landmark dance-musical ‘Rama, Hari’ – featuring the work of our National Artists: Alice Reyes (dance), Ryan Cayabyab (music) and the late Bien Lumbera (literature, for the libretto), Salvador Bernal (theater design) and Rolando Tinio (literature, for translation). It is a testimony to the spirit of artistic cooperation that dancers from 11 countries, of different backgrounds and traditions, came together in just a few days to get the show going. A big shoutout to choreographer and director Alice Reyes for getting it done – beautifully!

This brings to mind a similar ASEAN COCI project about a quarter century ago, when artists of the then 10 member-states came together for a dance drama, ‘Realizing Rama.’ Both productions are based on the ancient Sanskrit epic ‘Ramayana,’ which has a significant part in the cultural heritage of many Southeast Asian countries.

‘Realizing Rama’ was performed in all 10 ASEAN member-states from 1998 to 2000. In subsequent years, the production toured extensively in Europe (Berlin, Luxembourg, London, Brussels) and Asia (Seoul, Korea; Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou in China; New Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Mumbai in India; Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Yokohama in Japan). I had the privilege of joining some legs of the tour, and it was a truly inspiring, eye-opening, learning – and fun! – experience. It was a joy to see how connected we really are as Asians, at the same time discovering the unique traits of the artists from the different countries. Whatever may divide us, the arts being us together, reminding us how much we have in common and how much we can learn from and grow with each other. That’s the ASEAN way.

Cebu City has taken another step toward reshaping its justice system with the launch of the Justice Behind and Beyond Bars Program, an initiative that coincides with legislative efforts to institutionalize the Cebu City Justice Zone.

The event at the Cebu Parklane International Hotel gathered courts, corrections, local government, legal aid groups, and civic organizations in a unified commitment to address jail congestion and strengthen rehabilitation.

Executive Judge Anacleto G. Delbucolos and Atty. Mary Grace Hermosa Casano led the launch alongside Mayor Nestor Archival.

‘We joined our justice sector partners in the launching of Justice Behind and Beyond Bars, an integrated program focused on jail decongestion, access to justice, rehabilitation, aftercare, and reintegration,’ Archival said.

The launch followed the passage of the ordinance authored by Councilor Paul Labra, which formally establishes the Cebu City Justice Zone as a permanent governance platform.

Labra’s measure embeds reforms into city policy, mandating digital monitoring systems to track jail populations and case timelines, while promoting alternative sentencing options such as probation, community service, and restorative justice.

Judge Delbucolos has supported the ordinance, noting that Cebu City Jail once suffered congestion rates exceeding 1,000 percent before coordinated Justice Zone efforts reduced it to around 600 percent, still severe but already reflects development.

Labra’s ordinance is designed to ensure that reforms are permanent and not dependent on shifting political priorities.

Archival, for his part, emphasized the broader vision behind these reforms.

‘Ang hustisya dili lang kutob sa sulod sa prisohan. It should also give people a chance to change, rebuild, and start again,’ Archival said.

He added that the Cebu City Government will continue working with justice sector partners to promote a system that is fair, humane, and responsive.