Category: Philippine Star

Bianca Pagdanganan unleashed another trademark final-round charge, firing a four-under 68 to salvage a joint 10th-place finish in the Smoky Mountain Championship at Green Meadow Country Club in Alcoa, Tennessee on Saturday (Sunday Manila time).

More importantly, the strong finish gave the big-hitting Filipina a timely boost heading into her next Epson Tour campaign, with an LPGA Tour stop providing an added opportunity to sharpen her game against the world’s best before she returns to the developmental circuit later this month.

Pagdanganan, backed by ICTSI, started the final round seven strokes off the lead and never seriously threatened the championship. But her closing 68, highlighted by five birdies, underscored her ability to make a late charge and gave her another Top-10 result on the Epson Tour.

She birdied three of her first eight holes to move from joint 19th after two rounds into the Top 10 group. A bogey on No. 14 briefly stalled her momentum, but she responded with birdies on Nos. 15 and 18 to secure her share of 10th.

Meanwhile, Mirabel Ting outlasted Rachel Kuehn in a playoff after both finished at 15-under 201. The dup shot identical 67s to force sudden death after second-round leader Anne Chen, who held a two-shot advantage going into the final round, slipped to a 71.

Ting recovered from a bogey on No. 13 with back-to-back birdies on Nos. 14 and 15, while Kuehn fashioned a bogey-free 34-33 card capped by a birdie on No. 16.

Ting then clinched her first Epson Tour title on the opening playoff hole at No. 18. Her drive clipped a tree but took a fortunate bounce into the fairway, from where she struck a 7-iron from 155 yards to within three feet and converted the birdie for the victory.

For Pagdanganan, however, the focus now shifts to an even bigger test – and a potentially valuable tune-up for the next stretch of her Epson Tour campaign.

She is entered in the Standard Portland Classic, an LPGA Tour event set August 13-16 at the Columbia Edgewater Country Club in Portland, Oregon, where she will line up alongside fellow ICTSI mainstay and two-time major champion Yuka Saso.

The LPGA stint comes at an ideal time for Pagdanganan, giving her a chance to test her form against elite competition and fine-tune her game before returning to Epson Tour action. Her next Epson Tour stop is the Wildhorse Golf Classic, scheduled August 21-23 in Pendleton, Oregon.

Pagdanganan will be looking to carry the confidence from her Smoky Mountain Top 10 – and the lessons from her LPGA test – into that event as she seeks a stronger run on the Epson Tour.

Meanwhile, Pauline del Rosario hit two backside birdies to card a second straight 71 and tie for 29th at 6-under 210, while Dottie Ardina birdied the final two holes to close with a 70 and share 36th at 5-under 211.

The Go For Gold-Talisay Luigi Triathlon Group (TLTG) once again stamped its class, ruling the Ironkids Lapu-Lapu 2026 yesterday at Dusit Thani Mactan Cebu Resort.

The promising young triathletes under the guidance of coach Andoy Remolino hauled medals across divisions, reaffirming their dominance on the biggest Ironkinds action yet.

In the 13-15 age group, Zachary Angelo Da Silva and Lauren Lee Tan led the charge.

Da Silva outpaced Hans Nathan Samputon with a 12:10 finish, 17 seconds clear while teammate Therence Paulter Cañas secured bronze also with a 12:27 clocking.

On the girls side, Tan spearheaded a clean sweep for TLTG, clocking 13:14 ahead of teammates Henia Ethana Go (13:41) and Niala Kyrzl Limas (14:09).

TLTG posted a 1-2 finish in the 11-12 age group courtesy of Zoe Angel Da Silva and Veronica Moroña.

Maria Georgina Concepcion Sumaje added another gold for TLTG after ruling the girls 9-10 race while teammate John Luigi Remolino II got silver in the boys side. Zia Angel Da Silva claimed bronze in the girls 6-8 to complete TLTG’s podium finishers.

On the other hand, Amir Raphayel Lacanaria topped the boys 9-10 while Johan Benedict Santos and Francesca Bader Mendoza struck gold in the boys and girls 6-8 categories, respectively.

Relay events provided further drama with Team Salabite Swim Sting capturing the 6-10 title in 10:28, edging Team Villarica Brothers (10:38) and Team Pokémon (10:39).

Cebu Narwhal Swimming Team-SAS reigned supreme in the 11-15 mixed relay interestingly also with an 11:15 finish, holding off Team Hydro Immersion Swimming Team (11:26) and Team Fourd and Luke (11:

Several parts of Metro Manila and nearby areas are experiencing flooding due to the continued rains enhanced by the Southwest Monsoon, or “habagat” on Sunday, August 9.

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority and various local government units have reported flooding in several areas.

In its 3 a.m. weather advisory, PAGASA said Southwest Monsoon is affecting Luzon and Visayas.

The R.O.W. Initiative and the Asia-Pacific Regional Network for Early Childhood (ARNEC) have forged a partnership to strengthen the social-emotional well-being and resilience of young children in disaster-affected communities in Talisay City.

The partnership was formalized through a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed recently for the Social-Emotional Learning for Early Childhood Resilience Program, which will support young children, early childhood care and education (ECCE) teachers, caregivers, and communities affected by disasters.

The pilot program will be implemented in selected barangays in coordination with the Talisay City Government.

R.O.W. Initiative founder Kimberley Therese Burden-Gothong said the partnership marks a milestone in the organization’s efforts to help disaster-affected communities recover not only physically but also emotionally.

R.O.W. was established in November 2025 in response to Typhoon Tino.

‘In the aftermath of that disaster, we saw that recovery was not only about rebuilding what was damaged. It was also about restoring stability, dignity, and hope in the lives of families and communities,’ Burden-Gothong said.

She said she established R.O.W. in honor of the legacy of her mother, Dr. Rowena Burden, whose life was anchored on compassionate, practical, and community-based service.

Burden-Gothong also underscored the role of volunteers in disaster recovery and resilience-building, saying they can become community builders when organized, supported, and connected with strong partners.

Talisay City Mayor Samsam Gullas, meanwhile, said that partnerships are crucial in delivering better services to communities.

‘As a mayor, I think the best thing that you have to do when you start a project, a program, or a service is to realize and accept that you will never be a monopoly of knowledge,’ Gullas said.

Talisay City has since partnered with various non-government organizations and agencies to address gaps in services, including initiatives involving health services, care for senior citizens, and assistance for abandoned children.

‘We partnered with different NGOs. We have organizations that we provide financial assistance to every year,’ Gullas said, citing partnerships with organizations that help provide services for the elderly and abandoned children whom the city cannot accommodate in its own facilities.

The mayor said the same approach applies to the social-emotional needs of children, particularly those living in communities affected by Typhoon Tino.

Gullas recognizes that limitations allow the city government to identify gaps in its services and find partners capable of addressing them.

‘At the end of the day, if we tell ourselves that we can do everything alone, we are not really serving our people. We are only serving ourselves,’ she said.

Under the partnership, ARNEC will bring its regional experience in advancing early childhood development across the Asia-Pacific, while R.O.W. Initiative will work with the network to strengthen social-emotional learning and resilience among young children.

The pilot program recognizes the critical role of ECCE teachers in helping children recover after disasters.

Teachers will be equipped with practical tools and approaches to help restore routines for children following disasters, while parents, caregivers, and communities will also be supported in disaster preparedness, response, and recovery.

ARNEC is a regional network established in 2008 that works to advance early childhood development across the Asia-Pacific region.

Its work brings together governments, civil society organizations, foundations, academic institutions, development partners, and early childhood practitioners to promote holistic and inclusive early childhood development.

Among ARNEC’s advocacy priorities are responsive caregiving and parenting, as well as the creation of clean, safe, and secure environments for young children.

Burden-Gothong said the partnership with ARNEC and the Talisay City Government demonstrates how regional expertise, local leadership, and volunteer action can come together to strengthen community resilience.

She said the signing of the MoU should go beyond a formal agreement and translate into concrete action for children and families affected by disasters.

‘Let us work together to ensure that children in disaster-affected communities are not only protected, but emotionally supported. Let us strengthen the adults, systems, and communities around them,’ she said.

Gullas echoed the importance of working together, saying partnerships help fill gaps that local governments cannot address on their own.

The partners expressed hope that the Talisay City pilot would serve as a starting point for meaningful and sustained collaboration to help children, families, and communities become more prepared and resilient in the face of future disasters.

Shinichi Suzuki picked himself up from a stumble out of the gates on a damp Saturday and once he got going, didn’t give Rolando Bregente a chance in their much-anticipated title clash in the NGAP’s National Match Play Championship.

Eight birdies inside the last 16 holes of their first trip at rain-dampened Luisita in Tarlac had the Filipino-Japanese going into the halfway break of the 36-hole finale with a 7-up lead, before Suzuki put Bregente out of his miseries with an 8and7 victory that meant his first national title.

Grace Quintanilla, meanwhile, added a second straight national title in a span of less than a month after outlasting Precious Zaragosa, 1-up, in the ladies’ final that almost needed all of its 36 holes to conclude.

Holding a 3-up lead with three to play, Quintanilla, who entered the knockout stages as the No. 1 seed, hung tough with a routine par on the 36th hole proving enough to clinch the win and end Zaragosa’s giant-killing run.

Zaragosa, the 15-year-old whose older brother Rupert was a many-time PH Am champ, won the picturesque 17th hole in their two trips there, but just fell short in winning her first national ladies title.

The Marikina River reached the second alarm level on Sunday morning, August 9, amid rains brought by the Southwest Monsoon, or ‘habagat.’

The second alarm was raised at 10:56 a.m., according to the Marikina Public Information Office (PIO).

The Marikina PIO said the river’s water level had reached 16 meters.

Under the city’s alert system, the second alarm means residents should ‘evacuate’ as the river’s water level reaches 16 meters.

The third alarm means ‘force evacuation’ and is raised when the river’s water level reaches 18 meters.

The Southwest Monsoon may bring occasional rains over Metro Manila on Sunday, according to the state weather bureau PAGASA said.

The country’s agricultural trade deficit widened in June, as higher farm imports outpaced exports, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

The country’s agricultural trade balance incurred a $1.06-billion deficit in June, a 30-percent increase from the $813.16 million gap posted in the same month last year, PSA data showed.

The higher farm goods deficit in June reversed the 5.2-percent decline recorded last year and accelerated from the 1.2-percent increase in May 2026.

The country’s total agricultural trade amounted to $2.47 billion in June, an 8.5-percent increase from last year due to higher imports during the month.

Agricultural imports made up 71.4 percent of total farm trade in June, while exports accounted for 28.6 percent.

The PSA reported that imports of agricultural goods rose by 14.3 percent to $1.77 billion from $1.55 billion in the same month last year, accounting for 12.9 percent of the country’s total imports.

The Philippines’ top 10 farm imports reached $1.49 billion in June, a 17.2-percent increase in value from last year. It made up about 84.6 percent of all agricultural imports.

Cereals accounted for the largest share worth $441.93 million or 25 percent of the total imported commodities.

Among the country’s major trading partners, Vietnam was the top supplier for agricultural goods within the ASEAN region, valued at $221.72 million. ASEAN imports reached $708.76 million in June.

Spain remained a top source for farm goods for the Philippines among European Union countries, amounting to $22.65 million. Imports from EU countries reached $130.23 million.

Meanwhile, the country’s export of farm products declined by 3.6 percent in June to $706.92 million.

This was the lowest export value in 16 months since the $700.35 million logged in February of last year, the PSA said.

The value of agricultural exports accounted for 8.1 percent of the country’s total exports in June.

The top 10 exported commodities in June accounted for 97 percent of the country’s agricultural export receipts, valued at $686.02 million, a 3.7-percent increase from last year.

The top exported products were animal, vegetable or microbial fats and oils and their cleavage products; prepared edible fats; animal or vegetable waxes, valued at $686.02 million.

The Philippines’ exports to ASEAN countries amounted to $72.87 million in May, with Malaysia as the country’s top buyer valued at $30.5 million.

Exports to EU member-states reached $195.96 million in June. The Netherlands saw the highest exports of Philippine goods, with trade amounting to $130.9 million.

More than 200 passengers were stranded due to inclement weather on Sunday, August 9, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said.

From 4 a.m. to 8 a.m., the PCG reported that 215 passengers were stranded in affected ports under the Coast Guard Districts of Western Visayas, Bicol, Southern Tagalog and Central Visayas due to the Southwest monsoon, locally known as ‘habagat.’

Also affected were 105 rolling cargoes and eight vessels stranded at 22 affected ports.

The PCG also reported that 19 vessels, 10 motorbancas, six tugboats and three barges, were taking shelter due to prevailing weather and sea conditions.

According to PAGASA’s forecast on Sunday, habagat will continue to bring rains to parts of Luzon and Visayas.

A tricycle driver and one of his passengers died while five others were injured in a road mishap in Barangay New Rizal, Mlang town, Cotabato province, on Saturday night, August 8.

Officials of the Mlang Municipal Police Station said on Sunday, August 9, that the tricycle driver, Jovito Autillo Sr., and his passenger, Yolanda Cordero, died in the accident.

The crash also left five other tricycle passengers badly injured. They were identified as Cecil Autillo, Felinor Sigura and three minors. The injured passengers are currently confined at the Mlang Medical Specialist Center in Mlang, one of the 17 towns in Cotabato province.

Lt. Col. Realan Mamon, municipal police chief, said on Sunday that the victims were riding in Autillo’s tricycle when it was hit by a 10-wheeler cargo truck traveling in the opposite direction along the highway in Purok Acacia, Barangay New Rizal, Mlang.

The truck driver, Edmund Norberte, a resident of Barangay San Emmanuel in Tacurong City, voluntarily surrendered to police and barangay officials who responded to the incident. He also turned over his driver’s license to authorities.

Mamon and local executives said Norberte was driving the truck to Davao City when it figured in the accident along an unlit stretch of the highway in Purok Acacia, Barangay New Rizal.

The water in Angat Dam remains at critical level despite incessant rains. Meanwhile, Bustos Dam about 50 kilometers away has been discharging water as rain keeps raising the water to spilling level.

While Bustos does not source its water entirely from Angat, instead collecting water from local tributaries and rainfall over its immediate area, the two reservoirs lie along the same Angat River in Bulacan.

Inevitably, people wonder why so much water is being wasted in Bustos while the water at the Angat reservoir has been below critical level for some time now.

Isn’t there water management technology that can retain the water in Bustos instead of having the excess spilled and wasted? The stored water can then augment the lack in Angat Dam, which supplies over 90 percent of Metro Manila’s water needs as well as irrigation water for farms in Bulacan and Pampanga apart from generating hydropower.

There are existing technologies for more efficient harvesting and storage of rainwater. Such technologies are important especially in a country with only two seasons: wet and dry.

During the wet season, torrential rainfall causes deadly floods and landslides. On the other hand, during the dry season, farms lie fallow from drought.

Mahar Lagmay, executive director of the Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards or Project NOAH, has pointed out that rainwater retention systems are needed even in Metro Manila for flood management.

Lagmay previously urged Metro Manila residents to catch rainfall and stormwater runoff in their homes and offices to ease the burden on overwhelmed street drains and help mitigate flooding. The harvested water can be used, he said, for gardening, cleaning driveways and similar purposes.

There are emerging technologies not only to harvest rainwater, but also to harness the kinetic power of rain droplets for renewable energy. One report described it as transforming rooftops and drainpipes into renewable power stations.

Japanese capital Tokyo is spared from floods through its massive discharge channel built 50 meters underground. The system catches and pumps away overflowing water during typhoons through a system of tunnels, huge silos and pillars, with a tank that can hold up to 670,000 tons of water.

Bulacan has been the center of investigations on large-scale corruption related to flood control. The billions lost to corruption in that province could have been used instead for modern water retention and management technology in the dams.

But the government can still make up for lost time and resources. Given the risks posed by extreme weather, the country has no choice but to invest in smart water management.