Category: Philippine Star

Information and Communications Technology Chief Henry Aguda has expressed his support for a proposed bill in the House of Representatives that would require social media sites and online platforms to secure a legislative franchise to operate in the Philippines.

In a press conference on Thursday, September 24, Aguda said that the measure is crucial for public safety and public service, as these digital platforms heavily impact the general public.

To justify his stance, the DICT chief drew a direct comparison between social media giants and traditional broadcasters. He pointed out that broadcasters are strictly required to obtain a legislative franchise, pay taxes, and follow specific guidelines on how they report.

‘Parang unfair naman na hindi i-require yung same standards from others na kung tutuusin mas malaki ang kita, mas malaki ang reach. Di ba?’ Aguda said.

(It seems unfair not to require the same standards from others who actually make higher profits and have a wider reach, right?)

The said bill refers to House Bill No. 4786 filed by Rep. David Suarez (Quezon 2nd District) on September 23, which will require major social media platforms to secure a congressional legislative franchise before they can operate in the Philippines.

The bill seeks to amend Commonwealth Act No. 146, or the Public Service Act, by inserting a provision that would classify covered social media platforms as “public services of significant public consequence.”

This would require them to obtain a congressional franchise before operating in the Philippines, similar to broadcasting companies, telecommunications firms, and electric utilities.

‘In light of their pervasive influence, essential nature, market dominance, and critical impact on national security and public discourse, social media platforms demonstrably embody the characteristics of a ‘public service of public consequence’ or even ‘critical infrastructure.’ Their capacity to affect national security through the rapid spread of misinformation and their crucial role in the socio-economic activities of the populace necessitate a robust regulatory framework,’ the proposed House Bill read.

The legislative proposal gained traction following the school shooting on September 18 at Banga National High School in South Cotabato.

In that tragedy, a 16-year-old student fatally shot three individuals after interacting with online “nihilistic violent extremism” networks operating on platforms such as Discord and TikTok.

Ronald Gustilo, the convenor of digital advocates Digital Pinoys, said that requiring platforms to secure a congressional franchise should be carefully studied first, pointing out the difficulty of obtaining one and noting that such a mandate would set a global precedent.

‘The most important thing is that the government comes up with a mechanism that ensures their compliance while encouraging their continued presence here in the Philippines,’ Gustilo told Philstar.com.

On Thursday, Aguda also announced the lifting of the ban on the online platform Discord.

In a statement, digital advocates Digital Pinoys welcomed Discord’s promises, saying that closer cooperation between tech platforms and Philippine authorities is essential to addressing cybercrime, cybersecurity and online safety.

“The establishment of clear channels for government coordination and a local point of contact can help facilitate faster and more effective responses to legitimate concerns raised by Philippine authorities,” Digital Pinoys said.

“Digital Pinoys looks forward to seeing these commitments translated into concrete mechanisms that will strengthen cooperation and help create a safer digital environment for Filipinos,” the group added.

For Derren ‘Aimix’ dela Cruz, joining Global Esports (GE) was as much a reunion as it was the next step in a career spent working with different generations of Filipino FPS talent.

The former NAOS head coach joined Global Esports midway through the Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) Pacific season, reuniting with former players Xavier ‘xavi8k’ Juan and Patrick ‘PatMen’ Mendoza.

‘I basically got into GE by being absorbed into the team. Before that, I offered to help GE after they qualified for Vietnam in Pacific Stage 1, working alongside Platoon and Frost for a short time,’ dela Cruz told Philstar.com in an email interview.

‘After some staff changes, Platoon and xavi8k suddenly reached out to me with an opportunity. It happened so fast. It felt unbelievable, almost like a dream.’

The move also brought him back together with familiar faces, having coached xavi8k and PatMen while previously competing against other members of GE.

‘I miss my boys, they are such incredible people to work with. Knowing I would get the chance to finally see Xavi and PatMen again was an incredible honor, especially seeing how much both of them have grown since NAOS,’ he said.

Despite joining at a crucial point in the season and having to adjust from head coach to assistant, dela Cruz believed Global Esports already had the individual talent to contend. The challenge was finding the system that allowed them to play together.

‘Everyone is great on their own, you just need the right system to make them work as a team. Platoon made amazing changes and created a fantastic system, and we were completely on the same page about what needed to change. From there, it was just magic,’ said dela Cruz.

Global Esports’ success also reinforces something dela Cruz has believed throughout a competitive career that began when he was 14: Filipino FPS players have the talent to compete internationally when given the right environment.

‘Filipinos in the FPS scene just need full support, a proper bootcamp to provide good training grounds, and guidance from an organization with a solid managerial and coaching staff, backed by a very fair and professional approach,’ said dela Cruz.

Having experienced that support with both NAOS and GE, Aimix hopes more organizations will give Filipino players the same opportunities.

‘I really want to encourage both local and international organizations to pour their full attention, support, and investment into Filipino talent because it will definitely be worth it,’ he said.

Though he remains cautious about how changes to Valorant’s competitive ecosystem will affect the Philippines, particularly with the country grouped under Rest of Southeast Asia, dela Cruz believes the next generation is already there.

‘When given the chance to develop, backed by an organization that supports them really well, I am certain Filipinos will reach the global stage and lift more trophies,’ he said.

Dela Cruz along with Global Esports will begin their Valorant Champions campaign in Shanghai against Team Vitality in the group stages Saturday, September 26, at 5 p.m.

Why do we have to pay for electricity that we do not even use but collected from us and taxed even as ‘systems losses’? It took President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. (PBBM) to raise this question in his penultimate state of the nation address (SONA) last July 27 before leaders and members of the 20th Congress finally acted on our laments through the years.

Acting on PBBM’s demand, Congress started the public hearings on bills to amend the 2001 Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA). Among other things, the amendatory law will henceforth prohibit the passing of system loss charges and their corresponding 12 percent value added tax (VAT) to us consumers.

In our Kapihan sa Manila Bay news forum last Wednesday, Murang Kuryente party list Rep. Arthur Yap welcomed PBBM’s directives that were immediately complied with.

Yap particularly lauded the initiatives of the Energy Regulation Commission (ERC) and subsequently by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR). The BIR Revenue Memorandum Circular (RMC) No. 97-2026 removed the 12 percent VAT on allowable system loss charges within the cap approved by the ERC.

The BIR followed the ERC Resolution No. 26, approved on Aug. 26, which declared that charge – within the ERC cap, a government-mandated pass-through cost – is no longer part of the gross sales of generation, transmission and distribution costs of all power utilities. Both took effect immediately.

Yap estimated this will amount only to P20 per kilowatthour (kwh) reduction in particular with the customers of the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) who have an average of 200 kwh monthly electricity consumption.

‘That’s only equivalent to P20 per kilo of rice,’ Yap noted.

The parallelism to the P20-per-kilo rice is the May 2022 campaign promise then of now President Marcos who is now in his last two years in office at Malacañang Palace. Obviously, Yap could not help liken this to rice because he was once Agriculture Secretary during the administration of former president and still Congresswoman of Pampanga Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Yap subsequently got elected and served for one term as Bohol Governor. After which he run and won for three consecutive terms as Bohol Congressman.

Advocating at present for cheaper cost of electricity (Murang Kuryente), Yap explained that the problems of the power supply industry are closely associated with agriculture and food production. He cited the latest inflation figures that show 40 percent of the cause of rising prices of food originated from the high costs of electricity in our country.

Yap announced that they at the Lower House have committed to approve the proposed amendments of the 25-year old EPIRA before Congress adjourns for the Christmas break in December this year. As the House committee on energy vice chairman, Yap disclosed they have already conducted one public hearing on the proposed bill to amend and update the EPIRA.

Currently, Yap cited the House committee’s technical working group is reviewing how to delineate the ‘technical’ and ‘non-technical’ components of the system losses to ensure this not cause any extreme disruption to our country’s power supply situation.

This item on ‘system losses’ refers to electricity lost as power travels from baseload plants to homes due to ‘technical factors’ like heat in wires and transformers where electric currents flow from the baseload power plants going to distribution and transmission utilities until it is delivered to end-users of electricity. But there are also ‘non-technical’ issues like electricity theft due to illegal connections, use of ‘meter jumpers’ and other gadgets to lower monthly bills, if not totally avoid paying electricity.

In the Philippines, we have laws like the EPIRA that mandated power rates to be fully unbundled. Under Republic Act (RA) No. 9136, or the EPIRA that took effect in June 2001, distribution utilities are legally allowed to pass a portion of these losses on to end-users.

The higher VAT rate started being imposed and collected following the implementation of the Reformed Value-Added Tax (RVAT) law (RA No. 9337) in November 2005, with the 12 percent rate fully taking effect in February 2006.

Thus, this has made the Philippines as having the most expensive electricity rates and consequently losing its competitive advantage to our Southeast Asian neighbors. The Department of Energy (DOE) conceded so many foreign investors have been shying away to locate and operate their manufacturing companies here in our country due to very high power costs.

Our Kapihan news forum was attended by lawyers Maria Corazon Gines, ERC director III of the Legal Service, and Cynthia Alabanza, assistant vice president of the National Grid Corp. (NGCP). Both the ERC and the NGCP executives espoused a ‘wholistic’ or ‘whole-of-nation’ approach in addressing the power supply and demand situation in the Philippines. Gines also oversees or coordinates consumer affairs and addresses public queries at the ERC regarding power rates and billing disputes while Alabanza is concurrently official spokesperson.

Alabanza admitted the looming power crisis situation is now being manifested in the continuing fluctuations in the electricity supply in the Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao power grids. By NGCP projections, she warned, there won’t be any more excess power supply nor power reserve capacities by the year 2028.

‘There are already writings on the walls, so to speak,’ Alabanza echoed the NGCP warning.

She pointed in particular to the rotating blackouts, if not, NGCP issuances of yellow and red alerts. A yellow alert is issued when power reserves fall to low levels. A red alert is raised when the power supply is no longer sufficient to meet electricity demand.

In the specific situation of the Visayas grid, she admitted the NGCP could not deliver the electricity demand because the grid supply has not kept pace in baseload power development. She likened the situation to having so many rice delivery trucks, but with no rice supply. No new power plant projects have been put in place.

The House committee on energy chaired by Palawan Rep. Jose ‘Pepito’ Alvarez will bring to Visayas its public hearing next week in a bid to forestall the imminent power crisis to erupt anew.

For now, we look forward to consumers gain with removal of the system loss.

Sen. Robin Padilla appeared before the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Friday, September 25, for the first hearing in the preliminary investigation of an obstruction of justice complaint alleging that he helped Sen. Bato dela Rosa evade arrest.

Padilla and his co-respondents, however, have yet to submit their counter-affidavits as the complainant still has additional documents to provide, according to lawyer Jimmy Bondoc, one of their counsels.

“Kung ano po ang sinasabe ng batas, ‘yan po ay susundin natin,” Padilla told reporters in an ambush interview. (“Whatever the law says, we will follow.”)

Padilla declined to give further details about the hearing.

Bondoc said there were still matters that needed clarification because some submissions from the complainant were incomplete.

“May mga nililinaw pa po dahil may mga konti pang submissions na kulang po from the other side,” Bondoc said. “We are in the process of asking for a copy of a complaint,” he added.

Lawyer Ferdinand Topacio said the next preliminary investigation hearing is set for November 12.

The complainant, the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG), has until October 9 to submit additional documents, according to Topacio.

The DOJ had earlier subpoenaed Padilla and his co-respondents over the obstruction complaint and stressed that the issuance of a subpoena is not a finding of guilt. The preliminary investigation will determine whether there is sufficient basis to file a case in court.

Complaint over Dela Rosa’s evasion

The complaint stems from allegations that Padilla and others helped Dela Rosa evade authorities after he left the Senate compound in the early hours of May 14, following a shooting incident at the Senate the previous night.

The International Criminal Court had issued a warrant for Dela Rosa, who remains at large, for crimes against humanity of murder for heading the Philippine National Police in the conduct of the Duterte administration’s deadly war on drugs.

Philippine authorities said video footage showed Dela Rosa leaving the Senate premises and entering a Toyota Fortuner registered to Padilla.

Padilla has acknowledged that Dela Rosa rode in his vehicle as they left the Senate, but he has disputed the accusation that he helped the senator evade arrest.

The PNP-CIDG filed the obstruction complaint with the DOJ on May 28.

A separate complaint related to Dela Rosa’s departure from the Senate was also filed before the Office of the Ombudsman, involving other officials and individuals.

The Gilas Pilipinas women are closing in on the 3×3 basketball gold in the Asian Games.

The Philippines reached the gold-medal match of the three-a-side basketball tournament after blasting Thailand, 13-8, Friday afternoon at the Kinjo Futo Station Square Venue in Japan.

The win guaranteed the Filipina ballers a silver medal.

Maria Pasilang powered the Philippines with five points and seven rebounds. Kacey dela Rosa had four markers and three boards.

The Filipina dribblers turned a 2-2 deadlock into a 9-3 lead as they found their range on the offense.

This set the tone the rest of the way as their lead grew to eight, 12-4, after a free throw by Pasilang.

Thailand, however, did not go down easily, inching closer to five, 7-12, after a layup by Kwanjira Panted.

Pasilang, though, answered back with a shot of her own.

A Palida Naumkong make put the Thais at prime position for a comeback, but they could not capitalize on the misses of Gilas.

The Nationals held on until the final buzzer.

Gilas will be facing off against Japan in the championship match Friday evening.

The hometown team obliterated Korea, 19-8, earlier in the day.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has apprehended a person connected to the Sept. 18 school shooting incident in South Cotabato, the third such incident to hit the country’s schools in just three months.

During the Department of Justice (DOJ) budget hearing at the Senate yesterday, NBI Director Melvin Matibag mentioned the developments in the bureau’s probe on the latest school shooting incident at Banga National High School that left three students dead, including the 14-year-old shooter who was allegedly influenced by the nihilistic violent extremist (NVE) network ‘True Crime Community.’

Matibag said that the NBI is monitoring the deep dark web and investigating NVE cases behind the grooming of the teen school shooters in Tacloban, Zamboanga City and South Cotabato.

‘We’re doing our best to monitor it. And incidentally, I may report, yesterday we were able to get hold of one of the individuals somehow related to what happened in South Cotabato,’ Matibag said.

The NBI also apprehended a suspected ‘groomer’ in Cebu, Matibag said, without explaining if the person is connected to any of the three school shooting incidents.

‘Yesterday also, we made an apprehension of one of suspected groomers from Cebu, and with the help of the Department of Justice National Prosecution Service, we will be processing it today,’ Matibag said.

Matibag appealed for the Senate to consider increasing up to P1 billion their proposed P175 million confidential fund allocation in their proposed 2027 budget, so that the NBI can procure equipment to crack down on cybercrime offenses, like digital fraud and nihilistic violence targeting vulnerable youth.

‘There is really an NVE group, and there are lurkers that are copying this. It can be as simple as a student that did not do his homework saying that there will be a shooting,’ Matibag said.

‘So those are the things that we want to monitor as a team. The NBI, we want to be very active on this one,’ he added.

Matibag said that the NBI will submit to Congress their proposals for a possible law to regulate and monitor social media through ‘age-gating.’

‘So it depends on the age, on who will be allowed and how they will be allowed to use… Then coordination with the school, the threat validation and school response, which we did. We were able to apprehend this personality from South Cotabato because of the assistance of the schools involved in what we are doing,’ the NBI chief said.

While riveted by the events unfolding at the Senate, let’s not forget the threat faced by millions of young people in our schools.

This week, security was tightened at a school in Biliran while classes were suspended yesterday at the Hua Siong College of Iloilo over a ‘reported security concern’ and at Far Eastern University-Alabang because of a bomb threat.

Even if such threats are foiled or are merely pranks, they surely affect the mental health of students and school staff alike.

You can’t go to a learning institution fearing that it might be your last day on Earth because some troubled teen has a death wish and wants to take others with him.

The deadly attacks carried out by students could inspire copycats. Unless nipped early and decisively, serious mental health problems could reach epidemic proportions in our schools, threatening not only learning but, as we have tragically seen, lives.

There are no quick fixes to the deadly violence perpetrated by minors against minors, now occurring with increasing frequency in both public and private high schools.

Obviously, multifaceted responses are called for, with everyone helping to deal with mental health issues and prevent violence.

One way of being part of the solution: you or someone you know might want to work as a mental health counselor in schools.

The shooter at the Banga National High School in South Cotabato had been exhibiting troubling behavior and psychological problems for several months now, according to his bereaved mother, who reportedly planned to take him to a psychiatrist.

She probably couldn’t find a psychiatrist. Data from the Professional Regulation Commission showed that as of July this year, the country had only 548 medical doctors specializing in mental health.

The country has 2,873 licensed psychologists and 50,048 licensed psychometricians who assist psychologists. Whether they would be interested in working in schools is another story.

The country has 5,000 registered guidance counselors, but only about 1,000 work as RGCs in a system of over 45,000 public schools. The recommended ratio is one RGC per 250 students.

Recruiting RGCs can be a problem. Not only because of the modest pay compared with the needed qualifications (starting salary is P40,000 a month), but also because only a few higher education institutions offer the required master’s degree in guidance counseling or psychology.

These include the University of the Philippines, Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle University, National Teachers’ College and Miriam College.

An RGC needs a professional license and civil service eligibility to work in public schools.

Since 2024, the Department of Education (DepEd) has been asking for the scrapping of the requirement for a master’s degree for RGCs. But this will require an amendment of Republic Act (RA) 9258, the Guidance and Counseling Act of 2004.

While waiting for such an amendment, DepEd is creating this year about 10,000 positions for school counselor associates, where the starting salary is P31,000 a month plus P2,000 personal economic relief allowance.

The requirements for counselor associates are less rigorous: a bachelor’s degree in psychology, guidance and counseling or related course, with at least 18 units in behavioral science and supervised internship of at least 200 hours.

Last July, the Civil Service Commission approved the qualification standards for the school counselors. The CSC said this was in support of RA 12080, the Basic Education Mental Health and Well-Being Promotion Act passed in December 2024.

RA 12080 requires all public elementary and high schools to set up a Care Center to provide mental health counseling, screening and crisis response, with focus on stress management, suicide prevention and referral systems for students and teachers alike.

The law also requires the establishment of a Mental Health and Well-Being Office in every Schools Division Office to supervise local programs. It creates plantilla positions for DepEd schools division counselors, school counselors and school counselor associates.

In August 2024, executive director Karol Mark Yee of the Second Congressional Commission on Education had said that every year, the country has only 300 graduates of guidance counseling nationwide. At that rate, Yee said it would take 14 years to fill the needed vacancies.

For Nesthy Petecio, there is almost nothing left to win.

She’s got not just one Olympic medal but two. She’s been a top podium finisher in the Worlds. And she’s dominated the Southeast Asian Games.

The Davao del Sur southpaw has built one of the most decorated resumes in Philippine boxing history. But one line in that resume has stayed stubbornly blank: the Asian Games.

The 34-year-old has been to the Asiad before and left without a medal. Now in Aichi-Nagoya, she gets one more shot at it – one that could finally complete her collection.

With her longtime division, the 57kg featherweight class, removed from the 2026 Asian Games program, Petecio moves up to 60kg lightweight and thus has to face heavier opponents and heavier punches.

Nonetheless, she’s locked in on the mission.

She starts her campaign tomorrow in the Round of 16 against Mays Alreem Abukhadijah of Jordan.

On paper, it’s a kind of light opening assignment for a two-time Olympic medalist. Abukhadijah is a young fighter from a federation still finding its feet in women’s boxing, without major international hardware to her name.

But Nesthy knows so well that at the Asian Games, nothing comes light.

Beyond Saturday, the draw gets brutal as giants await. To win that elusive medal, Petecio will have to go through the best in Asia, at a heavier weight, at 34 years old.

The list includes Kazakhstan’s Viktoriya Grafeyeva (World Championships bronze and back-to-back golds at the World Boxing Cups), Chinese Taipei’s reigning Olympic champion Lin Yu-ting, Vietnam Olympian Ha Thi Linh, Japan home favorite Ayaka Taguchi, Mongolia’s 2026 Asian Championship bronze medalist Namuun Monkhor, plus India’s rising Priya Ghanghas and Korea’s seasoned Yeonji Oh.

But it matters so much to Petecio, and that could well fuel her drive.

For years she carried Philippine boxing on her shoulders. A world title already proved she can beat anyone. Two Olympic medals proved she can do it when the lights are brightest.

An Asian Games medal would prove something else: that she finished everything she set out to do.

In Nagoya this week, she isn’t just fighting for a podium. She’s fighting for one more medal – the only one missing.

ACEN Corp. of the Zobel family has completed the sale of a portion of its stake in a large-scale solar project in India to Netherlands-based Diamond India Renewables One B.V. (DIRO).

In a stock exchange filing yesterday, ACEN said the deal closed on Sept. 23, giving DIRO an initial 10-percent voting interest in Tejorupa Renewables India Project Pte. Ltd.

The transaction follows ACEN’s earlier disclosure of plans to divest up to a 49-percent stake in Tejorupa. Financial details were not immediately disclosed.

To facilitate the deal, ACEN units Unlimited Renewables Holdings B.V. and Amsa Solar Holdco Pte. Ltd. entered into a securities subscription and purchase agreement, as well as a shareholders’ agreement, with DIRO.

Unlimited Renewables is a subsidiary of ACEN, while Amsa Solar is an entity under ACEN’s joint venture with Singapore-based UPC Renewables for power projects in India.

Through the investment, DIRO gains an interest in Tejorupa, which is developing a 250-megawatt (MW) alternating-current solar farm in Rajasthan, India.

As of June, India projects accounted for around 20 percent of ACEN’s total attributable renewables capacity, latest company data showed.

In recent months, the Ayala Group’s listed energy platform has moved to reduce its equity interests in select renewable power projects under construction in India.

Earlier this year, ACEN also disclosed plans to sell up to 49-percent interests in two India wind projects totaling 120 MW to DIRO.

These include the 100-MW Diyos Renewables project and the 20-MW Avana Renewables facility. Both projects will rise in Karnataka, India.

The budget for public schools has doubled in five years, from P30 billion in 2022 to P61.02 billion in the proposed 2027 budget, the Department of Education said yesterday.

Included in the DepEd’s P975.96-billion budget for 2027 is the increase in school-level maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE).

Per-learner MOOE allocations for elementary schools will reach P2,982; junior high school, P2,744 and senior high school, P3,558. This year’s school operating funds are at P60.89 billion.

‘By simplifying funding formulas and steadily expanding per-learner operational support, we are removing unnecessary bottlenecks so school administrators and teachers can focus on teaching rather than worrying about basic school upkeep,’ Education Secretary Sonny Angara said.

Critics have slammed the lower budget for education in the 2027 national outlay compared to this year.